Ticketmaster fees for buyers
It should be noted that Ticketmaster prepared in advance for numerous customer questions about fees and secured itself with a corresponding agreement. This agreement is publicly available, and it says that
“The service fee varies by event based on our agreement with each client.”
Given that by buying a ticket, the client simultaneously accepts the terms of this agreement, questions about the formation of fees are automatically suppressed. But especially curious customers still do not give up trying to figure out what exactly they should pay extra for and why the amount of the surcharge is sometimes so high. Many buyers write that Ticketmaster allows too many price fluctuations. This is true: on the website you can find both very cheap and very expensive tickets, the same can be said about fees. Some tickets have low fees, and some have high fees. If we talk about the number of fees in general, in 2022 they averaged 30 percent of the ticket price. In fact, Ticketmaster (now Live Nation Entertainment) often sells tickets not to individuals, but to companies and promoters, who in turn resell these tickets to viewers. As a result of such a long chain, buyers manage to return part of the fees. But if we are talking about ordinary viewers buying tickets for themselves, then often the fees of this broker may seem too high
What are Ticketmaster fees?
The Ticketmaster website explains the pricing process quite clearly, at least it is noticeable that the company’s representatives are trying to explain to the client the need to pay extra. Firstly, the website says that the final payment amount primarily depends on the nominal ticket price, which is determined not by the broker, but by the sellers. For many events, Ticketmaster is not the main supplier and this also affects the price. Important! The website states that the ticket price and the number of fees may also depend on demand! Experts call this process “dynamic pricing”.
The website explains that the payment of fees is an integral process because it is actually a service fee and cannot be canceled. Order processing, technical security, organization of delivery – all this requires certain financial costs. That’s what companies need fees for. Also, part of the fees goes to the software. Of course, the fees also include the amount that will later become the broker’s net income. This is normal and is a scheme that has been adopted all over the world and has been successfully operating for decades. It is worth paying attention to the fact that each order on this site is carried out with an individual approach. That is, in short, you and your neighbor may end up with different prices for the same ticket. How exactly this individual approach is formed is known for certain only to the company’s employees. Customers are simply explained by the fact that Ticketmaster reserves the right to vary the price and fees.
Important! The service fee and the order processing fee are different fees, do not think that they are the same thing. These are completely different functions of a broker that requires separate expenses. As a rule, it is the fee “for ordering” that is the source of the company’s profit. Ticket delivery is also paid by the buyer and may vary depending on which delivery method the customer chooses. By the way, the company charges the so-called ” services fee”, as indicated on the website, not for itself, but for the organizers of the event.
Why are Ticketmaster fees so high?
Even though the site is advertised as a broker with loyal prices, many complain that there are too many fees and at the final stage of ticket purchase the price is shocking. Compared to many competitor sites, Ticketmaster often offers expensive tickets with high fees. However, this happens periodically and is not a pattern. By the way, in their defense, company representatives often say that taxes are included in the number of fees, and the buyer often forgets about this and blames the site for the high cost. Taxes, as you know, are not related to the broker and are set depending on the country or State in which the buyer lives. The high amount of fees can be explained by the high level of the event, the requests of the organizers, increased demand from buyers, and many other details. Perhaps Ticketmaster tickets are often expensive because of the large amount of work that the site does. For lower-level brokers, such price jumps are often less noticeable due to the smaller coverage of the work.
How to avoid Ticketmaster fees
You can avoid paying fees on Ticketmaster/Live Nation by choosing another broker. At the moment, there are no filters on the site that allow you to refuse fees and choose a ticket without commission. Sometimes on the Internet on various forums you can read tips from users who share different “secrets” to avoid paying fees. But in the end, these tips turn out to be fake, don’t believe them. It is impossible to avoid paying additional fees by buying a ticket on Ticketmaster / Live Nation if you have firmly decided to cooperate with this broker. Alternatively, you can consider options such as Megaseats and TickPick, which add fees to the ticket price. By the way, even though fees are not included in the ticket price, many complain that Megaseats and Tickpick are very expensive sites, so by abandoning Ticketmaster /Live Nation in favor of another broker, there is still no guarantee that you will make a good deal. But still, we will tell you a little more about alternative brokers.
Megaseats and Tickpick as alternative ticket brokers with no fees
Almost every ticket buyer monitors several websites and only then decides where exactly to buy a ticket. MegaSeats and TickPick are sites that are often monitored among the first because these services do not charge customers fees. It is fair to note that for many events these services offer very favorable prices. However, this does not always happen. Sometimes the prices for MegaSeats may exceed the ticket price including fees. However, this is about comparing with others, not Ticketmaster. As a rule, the final ticket price on Ticketmaster still exceeds the cost of tickets on MegaSeats and TickPick. In the last few months, you can find a lot of good reviews online about MegaSeats that do not charge fees. For example, on sites like MegaSeats and TickPick, a ticket for a Dua Lipa concert in 2022 cost about $ 170, while the final price for the same ticket on Ticketmaster could reach 260. According to analysts, in the last 2 and a half months, the rating of this online service has grown noticeably and many customers of such giants as Ticketmaster have moved to competitors “without fees”.